Introduction

The Powershot G10 is the latest version of Canon's most capable, serious and expensive compact camera. The G10 has a wealth of features that will appeal to the DSLR owner looking for a backup compact, or the enthusiast who wants DSLR functionality without the added bulk. At first glance the Canon G10 looks very similar to its popular predecessor, the G9, but as with that model, there are a number of key external and internal changes underneath the serious matt black exterior. The seemingly endless megapixel race continues, with the G10 now offering a 14.7 megapixel sensor - up from the G9's 12.1 megapixels - which is coupled with Canons new DIGIC 4 image processor, promising faster operation and improved image quality. The LCD screen remains 3 inches in size, but the resolution has been doubled to 461k dots, and there's a new dedicated Exposure Compensation dial and dual ISO/shooting mode dial on top of the camera. Perhaps the most significant change is the new 5x, 28-140mm zoom lens, which provides less range and reach than the G9's 6x lens with its telephoto setting of 210mm, but offers a wider-angle of view (28mm versus 35mm on the G9). The new G10 retains the same
RAW shooting mode, optical image stabilizer to help combat camera-shake, optical viewfinder, flash hotshoe, ISO range of 80-3200, and 26 different shooting modes including Shutter-priority,
Aperture-priority and Manual shooting modes for those who desire
greater control. 640x480 pixel movies at 30fps,
a new i-Contrast system which increases the dynamic range, Servo AF mode to continually adjust focus on a moving subject, a My Colors mode that allows special in-camera colour effects,
1cm macro mode, and improved Face Detection system
complete the headline specification.

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Ease of Use

Canon's G-series range of compact cameras have long been the preserve of the dedicated enthusiast photographer,
stuffed so full of features that they're worthy of being described
as a bridge camera, and just one step down from a fully fledged
DSLR. The question is, why opt for the Canon Powershot G10, when for nearly the same price you could be the proud
owner of an interchangeable lens EOS 1000D / Digital Rebel Xs DSLR? For starters,
the G10, despite its rather boxy dimensions, slots handily into a
coat pocket, therefore suggesting itself as possibly the
most
over-qualified spur-of-the-moment snapshot camera out there.
Although there are add-on tele and wide conversion lenses available,
the advantage that the G10 has over similar bridge cameras, super zooms and ultimately DSLRs is that its admittedly modest yet thankfully
image stabilized 5x zoom (a still respectable 28-140mm range
in 35mm terms) is stored flush to the body when not in use.

Just like its predecessors, the build quality is one of the G10's
aspects that immediately impresses as soon as you handle it for the first time. It feels like it could
be dropped, bashed around a bit (possibly shot at) and still
come back for more, like some war photojournalist's trusty
Leica. It certainly doesn't feel like Canon has cut any corners
to bring the camera to market at this price (£449 RRP in
the UK and $499 in the US, slightly more expensive in the UK than the previous G9 model), with
its matt black finish denoting a serious intent. Although,
as the lengthy
spec
list shows,
Canon has
crammed
a plethora
of photographic controls into the camera body, everything
within the layout feels in its rightful place and is easily
 and intuitively  accessible in an instant.

Two of the most visible changes to the G10 are found on front of the camera. There's a much-improved rubber handgrip, which is altogether more tactile and, well, grippy, than the one found on the previous G9 model. Alongside that is the new 5x zoom lens. Although it offers a shorter telephoto focal length compared to the G9 (140mm versus 200mm), I suspect that the majority of users will welcome Canon's decision to incorporate a wide-angle 28mm setting. Gaining 7mm at the wide-angle end makes a much bigger difference than losing 60mm at the telephoto end, making it much easier to shoot subjects like buildings in narrow streets, or a group of your friends in a confined space.

On top of the G10 and located to the far left
(if the camera is viewed from the back), is a new, very useful dial for changing exposure compensation. This is a great addition which really encourages you to fine-tune and experiment with the exposure level, and is a much better system than those found on the 99% of other compact cameras. To accommodate this new control, the dedicated ISO dial for rapidly changing light sensitivity settings,
from auto through to ISO 1600, has moved over to the right-hand side of the hot shoe for the supplementary
flash. Canon have cleverly located the familiar shooting mode dial in the center of the ISO dial.

Starting
at full auto setting, and moving clockwise around the dial
are shooting options including pre-optimised scene modes
(that feature a high speed ISO 3200-equivalent option), stitch
assist for framing panoramic images, movie clip mode (an
advantage over a DSLR for some users), and full Auto, followed
by six 'creative zone' modes. These are the regulars of program,
shutter speed
priority (Tv), aperture priority (Av), manual, plus a choice
of two readily accessible custom settings. The combination of exposure compensation, ISO and shooting mode dials is a winning one, providing quick access to the camera's principal controls. Located to the right of the ISO/shooting mode dials are a forward-situated zoom lever encircling a raised and
very springy feeling shutter button, behind which sits a
slightly recessed rectangular on/off button. It's to Canon's
credit that despite all of these controls falling immediately
at your fingertips, nothing feels cramped, compromised or
unnecessarily miniaturized for the sake of 'fashion', which,
to be frank, is a breath of fresh air for any compact camera
user.

Front

Rear

The rear of the Powershot G10 is dominated
by a large fixed 3-inch LCD screen, the same size as the
screen on the older G8, but importantly doubling the resolution from 230k to 460k dots. There's a rounded window for the slightly bigger optical
viewfinder ranged immediately above the LCD screen, but to
be honest,
I found myself using the G10's screen for shot
composition in the main. This has a couple of advantages:
firstly, you can see the live on-screen histogram to check
exposure as you go, and secondly, a compositional nine-area
grid provides added assistance when framing landscapes and
attempting to get your horizon level. Screen visibility is
also universally good, in contrast to the optical viewfinder
which appeared murky when used indoors under artificial light.
The 3 inch LCD screen has conversely resulted
in a decrease in the size of the optical viewfinder, making
it more difficult to use than on the older G7 model. Also off-putting
is the fact that you can see the lens in the bottom-left
of the viewfinder when it's set to a wide-angle focal length,
and you can only see around 80% of the scene anyway.

Although the G10 can be operated with one hand, using both feels more comfortable,
even though, with a lack of a grip to the left hand side
of the body, it's easy to
smear the side of the LCD with thumbprints. Top right of
the LCD monitor is a self-explanatory playback button, with
a customary Canon direct print button for PictBridge compliant
printers top left that, if wanted, doubles up as a shortcut
button. Immediately right of the LCD are four buttons ranged
at compass points around a control dial that features a scroll
wheel (for sifting through captured images and navigating
menus) encircling a function set button. Most of the external buttons on the G10 are now raised, making them easier to access than on the G9, and the name of the principal function is directly printed on each one.

These buttons include one for deleting images that doubles up as a means of switching
between AF options (face detection, AiAF  standard auto
 plus FlexiZone AF), a second for adjusting the metering mode (evaluative, centre weighted and spot), a third for switching the display on or
off (including the aforementioned nine-zone grid and histogram),
while the fourth is a singular menu button for calling up
just that on-screen. Finally for the camera back, top right
of this is a button for adding voice annotations to images
in playback that doubles up as an AE and FE (Flash Exposure)
lock button. On the right flank of the camera  again if
viewed from the back  is a sturdy pull-out flap protecting
USB, remote cable and AV out ports, above which is a handy mount for a
neck or wrist strap. On the left hand side is another strap
mount, below which is a speaker.

A press of the 'Func / Set' button
at the centre of the control dial brings up an L-shaped toolbar
running up the left hand side and across the bottom of the
screen. As with other Canon compacts, you scroll up and down
this to select and affect various key functions on the fly.
In Auto mode, most are disabled and all the user is allowed
to do is change file size and quality  large and superfine
being the best (least compression) option. Flick the shooting
dial around to Program however and you get the added options
of being able to adjust white balance  which includes both
an underwater and custom setting  plus access the familiar,
but often unused, 'My Colors' menu, bracketing options, flash
strength, and, rather more interestingly,
switch a neutral density (ND) filter on/off for those contrasty landscapes.

These myriad options remain for the other main shooting modes, with various features
obviously subtracted when shooting video clips  although
you still get white balance, My Colors, and use of the ND
filter if required  which adds the options of being able
to shoot at 320x240 pixels or 640x480 at 30fps or 15fps depending
on end usage. Turning the mode dial again to access the scene
modes, you're presented with a range of icon-illustrated
options via a virtual mode dial onscreen. Among the usual
suspects, these include pre-optimised settings for snow, fireworks, aquariums
and underwater, plus the aforementioned ISO 3200 mode, the results from which invariably resemble more a Pointillist painting rather than a realistic
photo.

Front

Top

Press the menu button on the G10's back and you get a choice of four familiar
Canon folders. The first, illustrated with a camera icon,
allows users to turn on or off the digital zoom, and additional
flash settings such as flash synch, slow synchro and red
eye reduction not otherwise available by pressing the dedicated
flash button (why anti red-eye isn't automatically included
on the latter I don't know). You can also adjust the AF mode
from single to continuous (the latter being the one which
hunts), and disable the bright green AF assist beam if wanted. The new i-Contrast option automatically boosts brightness and retains detail in dark areas of the image, working well if you shoot JPEGs (it's not available for RAW images).

Face Detection is a feature that's still rather buried away.
You have to press the dedicated Menu button and then choose
Face Detect from the AF Frame options. Rival compact cameras have a
dedicated button for this feature, so it's a curious decision
by Canon to bury it away within the menu system. The new
face detection feature won't make a great deal of difference
for the more experienced photographer, as there's the tendency
for the user to pre-focus on the subject before fully pressing the shutter
button. It will prove more useful for the novice point and
shoot user though. I didn't notice any notable difference
between the AiAF and Face Detect settings in terms
of speed, so I just set the camera to the latter.

The
second folder, illustrated by the familiar spanner and mallet,
is the Setup menu, where operational sounds can be handily
muted, LCD brightness tweaked, clock set, memory formatted,
and all settings returned to default if someone else has
been playing with the camera. The third folder allows you
to change start up sounds and images, a feature included
on all Canons but largely unnecessary I find. The fourth and final folder provides access to the My Menu, which essentially allows you to create a customised menu of your favourite settings.

The ISO Auto Shift function is a useful feature, providing a quick way to boost
the ISO speed when the camera is struggling to provide a
fast enough shutter speed for the prevalent lighting conditions.
Turn this feature on, and when the Powershot G10 displays
the red camera shake icon on the LCD screen, the round Print/Transfer
button on the rear of the camera flashes blue. Press this
whilst half-pressing the shutter button, and the camera sets
a much faster ISO speed (typically ISO 800), which is usually
enough to allow you take the shot and avoid camera shake.
Quite a clever and quick way to access a more usable ISO
speed. On the Powershot G10 Canon have also included an "On" option to the ISO Auto Shift function, which automatically sets an appropriate
ISO speed without any user interaction required via the Print/Transfer
button. There are some notable limitations with ISO Auto
Shift though, principally the inability to use it with flash.

The Canon Powershot G10 has an anti-shake
system, dubbed IS Mode. Turn image stabilization on and the G10 automatically
compensates for camera shake, which is a slight blurring of
the image that typically occurs at slow shutter speeds. There
are three different modes. Continuous is on all the time including
image composition, Shooting is only on when you press the
shutter button, and Panning as the name suggests is best when
using the camera to track a moving subject. In practice I
found that it does make a noticeable difference, as shown
in the examples on the Image
Quality page. You don't notice that the camera is actually
doing anything different when anti-shake is turned on, just
that you can use slower shutter speeds than normal and still
take sharp photos. Leaving the anti-shake system on all the
time didn't seem to adversely affect the battery-life, with the
camera managing just over 350 shots before the Lithium-ion battery ran out of power.

Memory
Card Slot

Battery
Compartment

Turning our attention to performance,
the G10 powers up in about 1.5 seconds, the LCD bursting
into life and the lens barrel simultaneously and quickly
extending to maximum wide angle. A half press
of the shutter button and, if AF is set to continuous mode,
you immediately notice the sound of the lens hunting for
critical focus. In truth it's reasonably quiet and nowhere
near as distracting as the 'insect buzz' of the Nikon Coolpix
range. That shutter button however is so springy that you
have to be reasonably gentle with your half press, but personally
I liked its more tactile nature, which, as with the camera's
other features, allows the user  and not just the camera
itself  to feel more in control.

Going on to take a shot, there's no
discernable shutter delay, while, as long as you're not taking
more than three single shots in quick succession, there's
a blink-and-you'll-miss-it wait of around a second before
you can take the next image  and at maximum resolution,
superfine JPEG image quality setting too. The RAW mode
is equally as snappy in single-shot mode, but also equally
as ponderous in continuous shooting mode - just 1.3 fps with
the LCD monitor turned off, and 0.7fps with it on (slightly slower than the G9). The
Powershot G10 isn't a camera for the action shooter who wants
to blast off lots of frames as quickly as possible. On
the plus side, you can hold the shutter down and the camera
will continue to take pictures until the memory card is full,
just not very quickly. Via the LCD, the user can display
the aforementioned nine zone
compositional
grid, shots remaining, selected shooting mode, flash setting,
plus
metering mode. To this is usefully added the histogram
display if you move out of point-and-shoot auto mode and
opt instead
for program, shutter speed priority, aperture priority
or manual shooting mode.

Press the camera's playback button
and a full resolution captured image appears in less than
a second. A further press of the display button brings up
basic shooting information, such as file number, the time
and date the image was taken and which file size (e.g. 'L'
for Large) and quality setting was selected. Press the display
button a second time and you get more detailed information,
including size of the file in MB, white balance and metering
mode, aperture and shutter speed, plus shooting mode and
a retroactive histogram  just like a baby DSLR in fact.
Pressing the Display button for a fourth time shows an enlarged section of
the image alongside a small thumbnail. This is perfect for
checking if the image is sharp and in focus, and you can
scroll around the image as you wish.

Hit the menu button in playback and
you're offered a choice of four folders  two for variously
tweaking set up and camera sounds and images as before, plus
an initial review folder containing options for slideshows,
erasing or protecting images or adding sound, plus a second
folder of print settings, particularly useful if you're hooking
the camera up to one of Canon's PictBridge-enabled standalone
printer ranges. Despite the chunky range of options that
matches its equally chunky yet still compact frame, everything
here seems logically placed, with controls falling easily
under the finger or thumb, and the menus being bright, clear,
thoughtfully laid out and easy to navigate once you get used
to the scroll wheel.

The Canon Powershot G10 is essentially very similar to its predecessor - built like a tank, packed
full of features, with fast and responsive performance
(except for burst shooting). The wide-angle zoom is a long-overdue development, and the new Exposure Compensation dial is an unexpected but welcome bonus. So the G10 offers some genuine improvements in handling, but does it also raise the bar
when it comes
to image
quality?
Let's find out

PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Canon Powershot G10 have been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.

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